Improvement in potato-diggers



W. SCHWARZ.

' Potato Digger.

No. 201,894. Patented April 2, 1.878.

Witnesses: l f Irl/venan- N:PETEES PHcTo-LlrNnGRAFl-IER. wASmNGToN D C UNITED STATES PATENT -OEEIcE WILLIAM scnwnnz, or koEruesnERel 1N TEE NEUMARK, PEUssIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN PoTATo-DIGGnI-:Rsg

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 201,894, dated April 2, 1878; application led January 28, 1878. v

.This invention relates to animpro'ved potato digger 'and harvester, which, after digging the potatoes from the ground, will eifectivelyx and quickly separate them from the soil and weeds.

The invention consists,principally, in providing a potato digger or elevator with an endless screen, which is hung over eccentrics in such manner that every part of the screen, in revolving, will continuously change its position, both in a vertical and horizontal plane. By the worm-like motion thus imparted to the screen it will effectively separate the potatoes from the soil.

The invention also consists in the improved mechanism hereinafter described for separating the potatoes from the weeds, and in other details of improvement hereinafter more fully pointed out.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure lis a side elevation, partly in section, of my improved potato digger and harvester. Fig. 2 is a top view of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts 'in all the gures.

The letter A represents the frame of the improved potato digger and harvester. Near its rear end it is provided with bearings for theaxle a, upon which the main wheels b b are hung or mounted. The front end of the frame A is connected, by a yoke, o, to a carriage, B, in such a manner that said front end can be raised or lowered at pleasure. This may be eifected by mounting on the carriage B a vertical stem, el, which is provided with a series of grooves, as clearly shown in the drawing,

and which extends through an opening in the top of the yoke, so that the yoke c may be con nected to the stemd by a pin, e, which is passed through the cheeks of the yoke and along any one ofthe grooves in the stem. This arrangement of grooved stein permits the proper rotation of the front carriage in steering the vehicle.. Near the front end of the frame A is attached thereto, by suitable arms f, a scoop, g, for digging the potatoes from the ground.

Directly behind this scoop is an inclined apron, h, hung on two shafts, to one of which rotary vmotion is imparted by suitable gearing from one of the wheels-b. 'y The apron vh has transverse ribs or slats, so'as to carry the potatoes, with the earth andweeds,'to `its top, and drop fully described.

- l Upon theaxle 'a ismounted, or to one wheely b is attached, a toothed wheel, i, which is revolved by the rotation of the wheel b, and which meshes into a pinion, j, that is mounted upon one end of a shaft, k. Said shaft k is hung across the frame A in suitable bearings u u.

By this mechanism rotary motion will be imparted to the shaft 7a in direction opposite to that of the axle a or wheel b. Upon the shaftk are fastened, at proper distances apart, two eccentric-cams, l l", which are set so that the largest radius of one cam will be diametrically opposite the largest radius of the other, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. mis another transverse shaft, hung in the frame A, beneath the rear end of the apron h, and provided with toothed drums or disks u near itsV ends. The cams l l* are also provided with teeth on their peripheries. Around each cam and the drum or disk, in line therewith, is hung an endless chain, o, the links of which are of such size and construction that the teeth on the cams lit betweenthe same, andimpart motion to the chains and prevent them from slipping.

The two chains o o are connected by a series of slotted or other cross-bars, p, having pro jecting blades, as in Fig. l, and placed at short distances l apart. These cross -bars are fastened to the chains by pivotal connections, so that they may readily vibrate thereon. The chains o,with the cross-bars p,for1n the screen D for sifting the potatoes. Overlapping ledgeplates g q may be attached to the outer sides of the chains o o, to prevent the potatoes from falling over the sides of the screen.

It will be seen that by the peculiar arrangement of cams l l", which move the screen D, one side-of the screen will be slackened while the other is extended, and that gradually, as the shaft k revolves, the slackened side will be extended and the extended side slackened.

" same.

the potatoes on the screen to be thoroughly sifted, the earth falling between the cross-bars to the ground, oruupon an inclined roof-like plate, r, which may, if desired, be secured un` der the screen, as shown.

In order to separate the potatoes from the weeds, I hang in the frame A, behind the screen D, a shaft, E, which, by suitable gearing, is

made to revolve iu the same direction as the screen. To this shaft is attached a series of projecting arms, s s s, of different lengths, so arranged that the shortestarms are always opposite to the largest radius of the cams L l* when turned toward them, and vice versa. In this way the arms s s, turned toward the screen D, will be always about equidistant from the At the back of the frame A is affixed across the same a comb-plate, t, whose notches correspond to the arms son the shaft E, so that the arms, in turning, will pass through the slots, and thereby be stripped of the weeds.

The potatoes drop from the screen D into a suitable receptacle, which may be attached to the frame.-` rThe weeds are caught bythe arms s, andheld thereon untilstripped by the comb, behind which they fall to the ground. i

I claim- 1. In a potato-digger, the combination of the frame A .with the shaft Ic, having cams l l", and with the shaft m and screen D, all arranged so that a combined rotary and oscillatin g motion is imparted to the screen D, substantially as and for' the purpose specified.

2. The combination, in a potato-digger, of the frame A with the shaft E, having arms s s of unequal lengths, and with the screen D, hung on the eccentrics l, l", substantially as specified.

3. The combination of the wheeled frame A, having a yoke, c, with the carriage B, having stem d, said stem being provided with series of grooves to receive the fastening-pin e, substantially as specified. y

This specification signed by me this 29th day of October, 1877.

WILLIAM SCHWARZ.

Witnesses:

CARL KEOPLER, BERTHOLD R01. 

